I would say IT DEFINITELY DID exacerbate those very tendencies you speak of.

I’m done on this. Ron Artest on the Rockets is one topic. His time with the Kings is just, over. I’m glad it’s over. I know you are LPA, and I understand on dwelling about something, but I guess I just prefer to live in the present.

I must have missed the Bee that day. Please enlighten me as to which excuses Martin has made.

I, too, would like to know what excuses Martin has made.

And my point on Scott was that, from his viewpoint, you could make a case for the Kings core talent being comparable to the Lakers, once you add in a (hopefully) Griffin or Rubio, and Kobe starts wearing down.

Like I said, so ridiculous a notion it’s pretty funny.

That’s not to say he wouldn’t take the job, and in fact, I hope the Kings find a way to pull that off. Byron Scott as our next coach sounds so much better than a lot of the other options I’ve heard, particularly Eddie Jordan.

As for Artest, they were down double digits when he got tossed and the stars just weren’t aligned. The Lakers HAD to win that game, and they did what they had to. Desperate teams do desperate things.

The Rockets need to get back to their game, feature Yao more, don’t overdribble, force Kobe to shoot 30 times to score 30, etc. If they can do that, they’ll have a good shot to take the games in Houston.

Whether the topic is Kevin Martin, Geoff Petrie or the Kings future. Unfortunately, it is what it is: a dysfunctional organization with splintered leadership, on and off the court. Many here would like to ignore that and paint a rosy picture of how this organization got to the toilet. That’s the Kool-Aid I am talking about.

But I will be here tomorrow, next week, next month, next year to eat my crow if Ron-Ron somehow takes his team to the promised land.

Actually, I know I come off as a hater, but I am rooting for Ron to get his act together and have a successful career. He has a unique set of tools for an NBA player, but he’s a mental midget.

Case in point, there was a play in the second half last night. Brooks brings the ball upcourt above the three point side on the left. He dribbles and penetrates (TWSS I know) towards the middle of the lane, gets the second defender to come over, and turns to pass it to the open man. Turns out that man is Artest, and he’s standing closer to half court than to the three point line. So Artest dribbles the ball once or twice, but he’s so far out of the play that he has to give it back to Brooks to start the play again.

Now if Artest is standing at the three point line, he gets an open shot, or draws another defender and kicks out to the next open guy – basically creating the ball movement Adelman is hoping for.

That’s when I got the feeling that bad Ron-Ron was in the house. Taking threes early in the shot clock, not really having an impact on defense. He wanted to play superstar last night, and try to beat Kobe…not help the Rockets beat the Lakers.

I’m still happy he’s someone else’s problem now.

The game had gotten chippy the fouls were getting harder and the refs were clamping down. Then at that point Ron makes a ‘hard’ foul that results in one of the other team’s starts landing hard on his back. If the Wafer – Vujacic foul hadn’t preceded it, I don’t think Ron gets tossed.

I don’t think it was even a flagrant 1, but taken context, I understand why the refs made that call. Don’t agree with it, but that’s the NBA we have today.